It is well known to provide an air cleaner for purifying raw air before mixing the raw air with fuel. Such known air cleaners typically include an air filter element disposed between a top shell and a bottom shell. The bottom shell typically includes an air intake and the top shell typically includes an air exhaust, which leads to an intake manifold of an internal combustion engine. In operation, such known air cleaners provide for the intake of raw air, the purification of the raw air and the routing of the purified air to the air exhaust. However, a problem with such known air cleaners is the leakage of raw air from the bottom shell to the air exhaust before passing through the filter element.
In an attempt to overcome the problem of air leakage, some known air cleaners include a seal disposed between abutting top and bottom shells. Compression of the seal is accomplished by exerting a significant compressive force on the shells and coupling the shells together to maintain the compressive force. According to some known arrangements, the shells may be permanently coupled, such as by welding, to maintain the compressive force. However, permanently coupling the shells with a filter inside has the disadvantage of preventing access to the filter element for repair or replacement.
According to other known arrangements, the shells may be temporarily coupled together using many screws evenly spaced around the periphery of the air cleaner to maintain the compressive force. To repair or replace the filter element, the screws are unfastened, the filter element is repaired or replaced and the screws are then refastened. However, this operation has the disadvantage of requiring a significant amount of time and may result in the uneven compression of the seal, which compounds the problem of air leakage.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved air cleaner that is capable of establishing an adequate seal to impede raw air from bypassing a filter element. It would also be advantageous to have an air filter element capable of rapid replacement in an air cleaner. It would further be advantageous to have a method of rapidly installing a filter element in an air cleaner.